First, the über-fancyness reported is purely COP-15 show-off and nothing else. The bike-counter, for an example, serves no practical purpose. I don't even know what the reported LEDS are.
It's true that it's very nice to be a biker in Copenhagen, but I believe that it's a case of chicken-and-egg: I think most of the amenities are there because Danes enjoy biking in large numbers, and not the other way around.
Fairly certain the LEDs he was talking about were the turn-lane indicators, that warn a turning car if a bicyclist is on the way. That's kind of amazing, and would potentially do wonders in a city like NYC. We already have some separated bicycle lanes (with obstructions between the cyclers and the autos), separate bike traffic lights, but only in a very few spots (8th avenue has a large stretch).
One of these days I'll get one.. :)
Also, if you watch the video he mentions that it's taken thirty some odd years to build out this infrastructure, and that it used to be a much more car-centric city.
The other thing that NYC would do well to implement was the so-called "green highway". I bike to work every day and find that our separated bike lanes have longer and more frequent red lights than the lanes given to cars (we have a red light when they have a green light + left turn arrow). Most of the people who bike frequently in the city actually avoid the separated bike lanes because of the poor traffic light timing.
Yes, that I think is the best of the social engineering ideas presented in that video, its also one of the easiest for the city to implement in terms of infrastructure.
You would make a lot of people mad by doing it though.
Most of the people it would effect are cab drivers/drivers-for-hire and delivery trucks/vans. Everyone else who drives daily in the city is, imho, an asshole ;)
> it's taken thirty some odd years to build out this infrastructure
Exactly - but the story is framed like "look, this city built this for a purpose, and it worked, now you do the same in your cities" when I believe the real story is that a bike-happy population worked with a willing city to slowly evolve an infrastructure with mutual benefits.
The bike counter serves merely to feel like you're making a direct impact -- "hey, I made that counter go up. Cool!" It just needs to make people feel good about biking, so they're more likely to do it in the future.
It's true that it's very nice to be a biker in Copenhagen, but I believe that it's a case of chicken-and-egg: I think most of the amenities are there because Danes enjoy biking in large numbers, and not the other way around.